The last time I saw the the Pets.com sock puppet was during an E-Trade Super Bowl commercial. In it, a chimp rides a horse through a postapocalyptic, postbubble Silicon Valley. At the end of the 30-second spot, a wrecking ball crashes through an office building, and the puppet flies out, landing dusty and ragged at the chimp's feet. The chimp picks up the puppet and a tear rolls down his face, as he mourns a tarnished symbol of '90s exuberance. But watching today's financial news, I'm thinking the chimp should have burned the little sucker. Because then BarNone — a subprime lender, of course — wouldn't have been able to purchase the rights to the puppet for $125,000 and keep its wretched curse alive. "Everybody deserves a second chance," my foot.

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